Former teammate warns Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to be 'very careful'

Former Manchester City player Richard Dunne, who played alongside Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel for the Sky Blues, has warned his ex-teammate to be ‘very careful’ in the twilight years of his professional career.

While Dunne noted that Schmeichel has been ‘amazing’ over the course of his time in football, he noticed that - now at the age of 37 - the Danish international’s reflexes are starting to dwindle somewhat.

Dunne used the 7-1 defeat against Borussia Dortmund as an example, saying Schmeichel looked ‘a little bit sluggish’ and was not ‘reading the shots correctly’. Clearly, in that game, his lightning quick reflexes appeared to have dulled somewhat.

Schmeichel joined Celtic in the summer transfer window as a replacement for the outgoing Joe Hart. Since then, he has made seven appearances in the Scottish Premiership, conceding just a single goal and keeping an impressive six clean sheets. He is best known for his time at Leicester City, with whom he won an unlikely Premier League title in 2016.

What did Richard Dunne say about Kasper Schmeichel?

Speaking with Virgin Media Sport, Dunne said: “Kasper has been amazing. He’s had a fantastic career, and he’s played in some really big clubs. He’s won the Premier League, he’s won an FA Cup, he’s played in the Champions League, and now he’s come and found himself playing for Celtic to come in to replace Joe Hart. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKLY SHOW ON SHOTS! TV

“I think at 37 you need to be very careful. You need to keep that mobility and that agility and what Kasper has always done when he’s been in goal, he’s been reactive to saves. He’s really sharp on his line. And just going back to the Dortmund game that we watched a few weeks ago, he wasn’t the sort of Kasper Schmeichel that we’ve been we’ve seen in previous years.

“He looked a little bit sluggish. Wasn’t as quick getting down to certain things. In the moment you look at it and you think 'are they huge mistakes or not?' Probably not. But then the more you analyse it, and you get closer into it and look at it deeper, sometimes his position is not right. He’s not reading the shot correctly. He’s not reacting.

“Obviously when you get older, you’re not as conditioned as you used to be. You can’t train as hard as you used to. And Kasper’s had a really good season. He’s done really well in the league. When you go and play in the Champions League it’s a level up, obviously, playing against Spain is a level up, and you’re playing against against better strikers. And he just looked a little bit sluggish, a little bit rusty. He didn’t look as sharp as he should be.

“In that one game, Celtic weren’t great defensively. They were really poor and normally Kasper will get them out of a lot of trouble. Just on that evening, he didn’t and that’s why I just think at 37 years of age, you need to be at your sharpest, you need to try hard and you need to make sure everything’s perfect and he just didn’t look bang on it that night.”